Saturday, May 14, 2011

I love the idea of cooking up a big Sunday roast dinner but, Sunday seems to be the day we end up running all our errands and by the time we get home we just aren't up to making the big meal. This Sunday was no different. We are in the midst of having the front of our house re-stuccoed which means we can finally replace the ugly brass house numbers glued on right now and the porch light. I can't believe how hard it is to find nice numbers! We drove from one end of town to the other and found nothing. Luckily we did find a nice light on clearance. Anyway, back to the food. By the time we did that and the grocery shopped, cooking was not high on our list, making it a perfect night for a simple pasta like this one.
The olives, and the way their brininess infuses the sauce, are what really make this dish something more than pasta with meat sauce. You'll want to serve it with some crusty bread to get all the sauce you can.

Quick Sausage and Olive Pasta

(I don't like my pasta to be overly saucy, if you prefer more double the amount of tomato sauce in this recipe.)

Cook the past according to the directions. When done drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and red onion. Cook until the sausage is cooked through breaking the sausage up as you go. Add in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, olives and red pepper flakes. Heat through. Taste and add salt is needed (you might not need any with the olives already adding salt). Stir in the drained pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan on top.